World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe Ju 89 heavy bombers were a series of two prototype aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturing firm Junkers as a response to the German Reich Aviation Ministry's 1935 request for long range bombers. In 1936, the ministry decided to put forth more effort with smaller tactical bombers, but the project continued. The first prototype took flight in Apr 1937 with Hesselbach at the helm. On 29 Apr, only 18 days after the prototype flight, the ministry abandoned the request. Nevertheless, Junkers continued the project internally, completing a second prototype in Jul 1937. On 4 Jun 1938, the second prototype achieved a new world record by taking a 5,000-kilogram payload to an altitude of 9,312 meters. On 8 Jun, the second prototype took a 10,000-kilogram payload to an altitude of 7,242 meters. In late 1938, both aircraft were transferred to the German Air Force Luftwaffe, and they were put in service as heavy transports. They were either scrapped within the year thus did not participate in WW2, or remained in service through the end of 1940 and were used as transports during the invasion of Norway. Nevertheless, the experienced learned by Junkers engineers with Ju 89 design and by the Luftwaffe crews that piloted and serviced it were valuable for subsequent Junkers designs.

SPECIFICATIONS

V2

Machinery	Four Daimler-Benz DB 600A engines rated at 750hp each
Armament	2x20mm MG FF cannons, 2x7.92mm MG 15 machine guns, 1,600kg bomb load
Crew	5
Span	35.25 m
Length	26.49 m
Height	7.60 m
Wing Area	184.00 m²
Weight, Empty	17,000 kg
Weight, Loaded	20,800 kg
Weight, Maximum	27,800 kg
Speed, Maximum	386 km/h
Service Ceiling	7,000 m
Range, Normal	2,980 km

Photographs